David Brydon

Common Rules for Living in a Barcelona Apartment Block.



Posted: Friday, September 25, 2009

by
BCN Rentals

Moving to a new city is full of surprises some pleasant some difficult to adjust to, especially if the culture is different to your own. Here are some tips for living in the city of Barcelona , Spain .

Barcelona is a great place to live. Time Out guides recently voted Barcelona as the number five city in the whole world to live in, pipped to the post only by the un-suprising top four of New York , London , Paris and Berlin . Moving to Barcelona offers some fantastic opportunities for both business and personal growth. Choosing a place to live can be a headache with such vibrant and different neighbourhoods in the city, but what's highly likely is that you'll be living in a block of apartments, where certain customs and rules must be upheld and abided by.

For those people moving into an apartment block from dwellings such as houses, be that detached or semi-detached, there are some huge differences. First of all, you are obviously a lot closer to your neighbours, and can often have neighbours on all four sides of you. Just as they will respect your privacy and noise, you must do the same. As a general rule, quiet hours in a standard apartment block building are from 10pm until 8am . During these hours you must refrain from making excessive noise, such as odd jobs around your apartment which may need fixing, any manual labour which requires repetitive noises (such as hammering, drilling, etc.) and of course, keep volume levels of music and Television sets to a minimum. Many young families will have babies or small children who need their rest just like the rest of us.

All apartments must have extractor fans in the kitchens of the apartments, meaning odours and fumes from anything you cook leave the building correctly. Do not cook in other parts of the apartment.

Communal areas of the building are usually paid for jointly by each individual apartment. If you rent, this may be included or not, so you may want to check first. This cost covers such things as the cleaning of the halls and vestibule of the buildings, the maintenance of the elevator if the building has one, and the electricity bills of the hall lights, for example. It is imperative that each neighbour tries to maintain the communal areas clean, and any spillages or dirt from taking out the rubbish, for example, must be cleaned to avoid further dirt spreading.

Above all, the best way to fix any discrepancies between neighbours is to talk! It's a great idea to introduce yourself as a new neighbour to your immediate neighbours, to make them feel they can approach you if they need to ask or check anything, and they can become your first new acquaintances in the city who may end up being life-long friends!

David writes about Luxury Barcelona Real Estate and Long Term Rentals in Barcelona.
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